Chapter 375: Lost Memories

Number Eight held his helmet with one hand and pressed the other to his face. With a light scratch of his fingernail, pale black blood oozed from his ghastly white skin.

"Never go below the fourth floor. That is my first piece of advice to you," Number Eight said, deliberately pointing at the pale black blood on his face, as if he wanted me to remember its color. "I can't talk about what happened later just yet. When you finally unlock the Nine Locks, you will naturally remember everything. The Dao Lock of your Kidney Aperture is about to break open, but your progress is still too slow. You don't have much time left. If you want to survive, every second counts."

"You're telling me all this to help me?" Standing by the table, I stared at Number Eight, this man who claimed to be Xia Chi.

"The Live Show is everywhere. In the broadcast rooms, in everyday life, and even the person you trust most by your side might have been sent by the Live Show. I could only speak with you by taking advantage of an official broadcast. Only after an official broadcast begins will the Live Show stop directly interfering with you, all to avoid karma and acquire merit. Every broadcast is a life-or-death test, but it is also a rare opportunity. And the reason I am telling you this isn't just to help you. If you manage to survive by some stroke of luck, I hope you can save Xia Qingzhi. No matter what I have done, she is innocent." Number Eight's voice gradually changed. The torn skin on his face showed no signs of healing; he looked as if he suffered from septicemia, his skin as thin as paper, bleeding from wounds that were incredibly hard to close.

"I prepared for a long time for this meeting just to deceive the Live Show. It probably won't be this easy next time." The wounds on Number Eight's face twitched slightly, the flesh inside seeming to churn. "Remember what I'm about to tell you. Never go below the fourth floor of that building. If a woman with an 'a' in her name seeks you out, don't waste your breath—kill her immediately! Find the real Xia Qingzhi. I don't know her exact location, but the fake Xia Qingzhi definitely does. Finally, and most importantly, before all of your Nine Locks are opened and your memories are restored, do not trust anyone!"

"Stay alive. When the Nine Locks are fully open, you will remember everything!" Number Eight practically shouted this last sentence. I looked at him in confusion, his words making my scalp tingle with dread.

According to Number Eight, I was missing a piece of my memory, but in my own mind, I didn't feel like I had lost anything. Every event, every scene that had happened over the years remained perfectly clear.

'Did I really forget something?'

Number Eight took off his helmet, deep exhaustion written across his face. He walked up to me, leaned in, and lowered his voice. "The Nine Locks have two meanings: the Nine Locks within your body, and the Nine Locks within the Jiangcheng Great Tomb. My body is almost at its limit. I will help you one last time."

His voice grew even deeper. "I don't know who the organizer of this game is, either. I killed the original Number Eight. I am only a substitute, not the organizer or the hidden player. The extra twelfth person is still among you. What I just said might violate the Live Show's rules, so it would be best if you killed everyone else tonight. Later, I will lure them in and help you get rid of a few. You don't need to worry about my life or death; even if this body is destroyed, I have other ways to see you."

He glanced at the Alloy Key on the table. Instead of returning to his seat, he stood relatively close to the cabinet.

"That's it? What about the process of your murder?" Number One Wang Shi turned to look at Number Eight, feeling incredibly uneasy. The wounds on Number Eight's face showed signs of widening and tearing; it was hard to imagine they had been made by just a light scratch of a fingernail.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Number Six toyed with his razor blade. "Hiding your crime means you're cheating! I propose we vote for Number Eight during the next accusation!"

The crowd argued for a moment, only stopping when Number Nine walked out of the cell with his arm around Wang Yuchun.

"Fatty, the woman you like is lying in someone else's arms now. They were just going at it in there. I'm really curious, how do you feel about that right now?" Number Six swallowed hard, mocking Number Five, Tian Teng, beside him. "Why are you such a coward? It's not like you haven't killed anyone before."

Tian Teng's small eyes glared at Number Nine, the fat on his belly trembling.

"Angry? Want to make a move on me?" Number Nine sat by the table without a care in the world, calling out toward the cell. "Lawyer Du, you can't just stand by and watch me die, can you?"

A moment later, Du Yu walked out of his cell with a frown and sat back in his seat. "Our alliance is only temporary. Once we get out of here, we cut all ties."

"An alliance?" Number Seven, Jin Zhouzhe, glanced at Number Nine, Number Four, and Du Yu. "You three have formed an alliance? How interesting. Aren't you afraid the killer is among you?"

Number Nine waved his hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter who the killer is. In a confined space like this, individual strength is limited. Forming an alliance is the only way to go!"

He pressed Wang Yuchun against the table right in front of everyone. "Five people can get the antidote at the end of this game. My team can still take two more people. Are any of you interested?"

"I want in." The moment Number Nine finished speaking, Number Six, Skinny Monkey, stood up. "I still have an unused vote on me. I can trade it with one of you."

"A wise choice." Number Nine waved Number Six over. Skinny Monkey Man decisively left his seat and sat in Number Eight's spot. He then repeated the story Number Eight had just told. "The few of us will team up. Later, we'll accuse Number Eight of being the killer."

Number Nine smiled and nodded in agreement. Number Eight himself didn't care; he didn't even spare the group a glance. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, staring intently at the dilapidated cabinet.

Alarms suddenly blared through the room. Number Nine stood up and walked toward the Electric Chair, but Number Eight suddenly blocked his path.

"You want to join our alliance too?"

Number Nine shot Number Eight a glance. No matter how he looked at him, the man gave off an incredibly eerie vibe. Just as he was about to refuse, Number Eight spoke up. "I have a theory. There is about a fifty percent chance we can save everyone."

"What theory?" Number Nine stopped in his tracks. Amidst the piercing blare of the alarms, everyone turned their eyes to Number Eight.

"It's a simple blind spot in our thinking. Detective Number Three was the first to die, but his death was different from Number Two's. He died outside the door. We didn't see his body, nor did we witness his death. We concluded that Number Three was dead based solely on the blood on the ground. That kind of death is irrational." Number Eight pointed at the cabinet. As the alarms blared, something began pounding against the iron door behind it.

"What lies beyond that door is entirely unknown to us. Humans interact with the outside world through our five senses. Amidst these urgent alarms, the increasingly frantic pounding on the door makes us tense. It triggers instinctive panic, clouding our subjective judgment."

"Calm down and think about it. Perhaps there's nothing outside the door at all. What if the organizer simply set up some kind of voice-activated mechanism?" Number Eight reached out and touched the edge of the cabinet. "Following that line of thought, I have a bold guess: the hidden twelfth person is Detective Number Three. He faked his own death and might be hiding right outside that door, remotely controlling everything in this room—including the Electric Chair, the alarms, and so on."

"What you're saying makes sense, but we have no way to verify it. You're joking around with our lives." As the cabinet rattled, Number Nine rejected Number Eight's theory. He had already established a multi-person alliance; according to the rules of the game, his chances of winning were incredibly high.

"Do the rest of you feel the same?" Number Eight looked around at all the participants seated at the round table. "If you value your lives, I can try it myself. All you have to do is help me move the cabinet. Once I open the door, if there's any danger, just push me out. I absolutely won't drag the rest of you down with me."

"Are you sure?" Only then did the others show interest. Sacrificing someone else's life to increase their own chances of survival was a bargain no matter how they looked at it.

"Stopping in our tracks out of fear will only end with us trapped here until we die. Since you aren't willing, I'll take the risk." Number Eight pointed at Number Nine, Number Eleven, and Du Yu. "You three, help me move the cabinet."

Number Eleven sat perfectly still in their seat, as if hearing nothing.

Du Yu, on the other hand, thought for a moment before stepping up next to Number Nine by the cabinet. "I'll help you."

Number Eight retrieved the Alloy Key left by Detective Number Three, and the three of them worked together to push the cabinet aside.

With the cabinet no longer blocking the view, the group finally saw that the iron door's frame was already deformed. It was on the verge of being forced open.